"Illegal Alien" Halloween costume arouses controversy in U.S.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- As Halloween draws near, shops are selling Halloween costumes for children to play "trick or treat," but at least two "Illegal Alien" costumes have aroused controversy in the United States.

The "Illegal Alien Adult Costume" was manufactured by Forum Novelties, a manufacturer of novelty gifts. It has an orange jumpsuit similar to prison garb with "Illegal Alien" stamped in black across the chest, a space alien mask and a fake Green Card.

The "Illegal Alien Mask with Hat" includes a space alien mask with a dark handlebar mustache and a baseball cap.

Description of the costumes reads: "He didn't just cross a border, he crossed a galaxy! He's got his green card, but it's from another planet! Sure to get some laughs."

Civil and immigrant rights groups immediately took actions since last week to ask retailers of the "illegal alien" costumes to stop selling them.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) wrote a letter last week asking several retailers, including Target, Walgreens and Amazon.com, to stop offering the costume.

Target and other sellers immediately took down the products either from their web sites or from the shelves. Target said the "Illegal Alien" costume was inadvertently uploaded to its web site due to a data entry error.

"It is never our intent to offend the consumers with the products we offer," Target said in a statement.

However, the issue is not over.

Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, said that it was " distasteful, mean-spirited and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform."

CHIRLA Director of Public Relations Jorge-Mario Cabrera said he initially thought the costume was a stab at harmless satire. But when he saw the Green Card sign, he realized it was a swipe at illegal immigrants.

"This was an ignorant attempt to poke fun at a specific community," said Cabrera.

Guillermo Iglesias, an immigrant, said both of his parents were illegal immigrants in the U.S. and he felt the costumes were offensive because they depicted illegal immigrants as "not one of us."

He said he had a lot of illegal immigrant friends and if he showed them that costume, it would really hurt them.

But some Americans thought differently. William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said he intended to buy the costume, and called the reaction unfounded.